April] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1890.
" I am the great god,self-produced,whocreatesall his names ;
the cycle of the gods."
Thisis the uninterpolated text of the earliest period. At a later
time,andin the manuscripts of the eighteenth andlaterdynasties,
the foregoing textis explained by the gloss :—
•-m$\K~$
"It is Ra who creates the names of his limbs, whichbecome
thoseof the gods whoare with him."
Thedoctrinetaughtby the Book of the Dead is simply this :—
TheSunhas given rise to a diversity of names, andthesenames
havebecomethoseof divinities mythologicallyassociatedwithhim.
Thisis the exact truth,andit cannot be improved uponby modern
theoriesdrawnfromthe extremely aprocryphalfactsanddoubtful
inferencesof anthropological dilettantism.
It is not probable thatM. Mallet will long continueto defend
his etymology of Neith from*"£",a group implying(accordingto
him) the idea of existence. "La conception philosophique per-
sonifieeen la deesse Neitne serait autre que celle-ci: L'etre, ce
qui est, ou sous la forme femininemieuxadapteea la mythologie
vulgaire: Celle qui est."
Eventhe last mentioned interpretationis much too metaphysical
a one. Mythologicalnamesare always drawnfromattributeseasily
apprehendedby the senses. AndM. Mallet hasnot considered
thatit is only in a secondary waythatthe pronoun "*£*,whichis a
compoundof two words,~wwv,en and ol) /a or a_p tu, comes to
be connected withthe idea of 'being.' We mightas reasonably
lookto the Greek St6 for a mythological etymology.
I am not sure thatI can myself givea satisfactory etymological
meaningof the name of Neith, but I will try.
The Egyptian name of Neith is written Y, Q,
~vwww w«m B\ (www f / f /. ryj
V*Mi J, % ,% >U5C)Q» withothervariants. The
last onequotedhas not been referredto by other scholars,as far as
348